Miniature royal coach. “I’ve been to England a couple of times,” he relates.Les Bazso
/ VANCOUVER SUN

Dan Hatcher in his royal room. “As far as I’m concerned, most of the monarchists [in Vancouver] are closeted,” he states. “When the Queen or members of the Royal Family come to British Columbia, people come out in droves.”Les Bazso
/ VANCOUVER SUN

Framed pictures of royalty.Les Bazso
/ VANCOUVER SUN

Stacks of commorative plates and various royal busts. The 52-year-old comes from a family of staunch royalists.Les Bazso
/ VANCOUVER SUN

A shelf of busts, plates and photos. as a card-carrying royalist in the Monarchist League of Canada, Hatcher’s rather chuffed about the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.Les Bazso
/ VANCOUVER SUN

Dan Hatcher has been collecting royal memorabilia for decades at his home in White Rock.Les Bazso
/ VANCOUVER SUN

Statues of royalty. “I am watching everything this weekend,” says Hatcher, who retired after suffering a stroke a few years ago.Les Bazso
/ VANCOUVER SUN

Two 1953 Cornation busts. He has a lot of admiration for the Queen. “I think she’s done a remarkable job in an ever-changing society.”Les Bazso
/ VANCOUVER SUN

1953 busts of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip. Royal collectibles fill six bookcases and china cabinets in his condo.Les Bazso
/ VANCOUVER SUN

Dan Hatcher won’t be able to make it to London this weekend to see the Queen lead a 1,000 vessel procession down the Thames in a gilded Royal Barge.

But as a card-carrying royalist in the Monarchist League of Canada, he’s rather chuffed about the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Aside from all the events and pageantry, there will be a wave of new Royal memorabilia unleashed on the masses.

Royal memorabilia is dear to Hatcher’s heart; his White Rock condo is brimming with the stuff. China, magazines, trinkets – he’s got “thousands” of items relating to the Royal Family.

Asked what he has from the Royal Coronation, he asks “Which one?”

He’s not being coy. Hatcher has royal collectibles that go back as far as 1887. Which means his collection covers six British monarchs, from Queen Victoria to King Edward VII, King George V, King Edward VIII, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II.

He has a rare Union Jack flag dating to Edward VII’s coronation, as well as an oil portrait of the Edward VII, who left the throne to marry a divorcee. His favourite item might be The Story of the Coronation, 1937, a book about George VI’s ascension to the throne after Edward’s abdication.

“I read it and re-read it very few years,” says Hatcher , whose favourite Royal period is the 1930s. “It’s got a lot of relevant information of the time, and that’s kind of cool.”

In any event, yes, he has “oodles” of stuff from the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on June 2, 1953 at Westminster Abbey.

“I’ve got the Britton coronation coach,” he says. “Britton the toy manufacturer did a coronation coach, with a coach and horses. I can’t remember what I paid, I bought it second-hand years ago.

“I’ve also got plates, and I’ve got busts of the Queen and the Duke. I’ve got colouring books, I’ve got mugs, I’ve got plates. Magazines. Ashtrays, books, photos, you name it. I’ve got the Queen on horseback in a Britton toy. Spoons. Just anything and everything.”

The 52-year-old comes from a family of staunch royalists, and caught the royal bug himself when his dad’s English cousin sent snapshots he’d taken of the Royal Family as Christmas cards.

Hatcher has seen the Queen in person “six or seven” times.

“I’ve been to England a couple of times,” he relates.

“I saw Buckingham Palace, went to Windsor Castle. At Windsor you can go inside. My dad and I went up to Scotland, because the Royal Family was in residence in Scotland. It was bloody cold the September I was there. I stood on the corner watching as a motorcade took them to church.”

When the Queen was in Vancouver in 2002, he went to see her carrying a replica of her Royal Standard for Canada.

“If she goes into a building anywhere in Canada, such as when she’s in residence at Government House in Victoria, as soon as she enters the property, the [Royal Standard] flag goes up,” he explains.

“The Flag Shop on Fourth Avenue had a sale, I went in and ‘Oh my God, it’s the Queen’s personal standard.’ I was ticked pink. If the Queen should come to my building, up goes the flag.”

Royal collectibles fill six bookcases and china cabinets in his condo. There’s everything from a 1951 Yousuf Karsh portrait of Elizabeth and Philip to a coffee cup of Prince Charles that’s shaped like his head, with his ear serving as the handle.

He plans to park in front of the TV this weekend to catch all the events going on in London.

“I am watching everything this weekend,” says Hatcher, who retired after suffering a stroke a few years ago. “ If it’s on at 4:30 [a.m.], I’ll be up at 4:30.”

He has a lot of admiration for the Queen (“I think she’s done a remarkable job in an ever-changing society”). He’s also happy to see people celebrating her long reign.

“As far as I’m concerned, most of the monarchists [in Vancouver] are closeted,” he states. “When the Queen or members of the Royal Family come to British Columbia, people come out in droves.”

jmackie@vancouversun.com

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